Hall of Fame
The 2012-13 women’s rugby team won the third national championship in program history to date. The Cadets won the 2012 USA Rugby College 7’s National Championship in Texas in December, defeating Sam Houston State, Ohio State, Stanford, Harvard, Texas, and Navy en route to the title. They nearly claimed the 15’s title months later, finishing as the USA Rugby Division I National Runners-up to Penn State.
“Captain Emily Baugus led the 2012-13 team to one of the greatest seasons in Norwich women’s rugby history,” said Head Coach Austin Hall. “We played an extremely aggressive, counter-attacking style. We loved to play defense and spent most of our games pushing the other team backwards. When we did get a whiff of the ball, we were explosive. We countered, all-in, and every attack was a threat to score.”
Joya Clark ’14 and Baylee Annis ’14 were key pieces to the team’s success, with Clark being named USA Rugby 7’s Championship MVP while Annis was a USA Rugby All-American. Clark, Emily Baugus, Emily Oor, and Ally Day were USA Rugby 15s Championship All-Tournament Team selections.
Baugus led the team with 255 points to go with 106 conversions. Day tallied 175 points. In 7s, Clark and Champagne had eight and five tries, respectively.
“Playing D1 15s for the first time ever, we never backed down from any opposition,” said Hall. “The culmination of this courage came in the national semifinal against Stanford, at Stanford. I remember sea of Cardinal red cheering on their home team, while we battled to stay alive. Trailing by two scores in the final five minutes, we overcame the deficit... Norwich beat Stanford at Stanford. This team deserves every centimeter of recognition they receive.”
